Employers across Fort Collins say: Keep your marijuana at home

Many businesses adopt no-tolerance pot stances in the wake of Colorado marijuana legalization.

Dec. 11, 2012

Daniel Henrickson holds up a marijuana cigarette as he waves to a helicopter on the steps of the State Capitol in Denver on Monday. Marijuana for recreational use became legal in Colorado Monday, when the governor took a purposely low-key procedural step of declaring the voter-approved change part of the state constitution. / AP Photo/The Denver Post, AAron Ontiveroz

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While a stroke of the governor’s pen Monday officially legalized marijuana in Colorado, some businesses are sending a more strict message to their employees: Leave it home.

Amendment 64, passed overwhelmingly by voters in November, legalizes the consumption and possession of up to 1 ounce of marijuana but also bans consumption in public places and gives employers the right to establish and enforce their own policies.

Many companies plan to address pot in their employment guidelines like they do alcohol, with a zero-tolerance policy.

“What they do on their own time and in their own home is their own business, but don’t bring it to work in any way, shape or form,” said Scott Smith, owner of CooperSmith’s Pub and Brewing in Old Town Square. CooperSmith’s has a no-tolerance policy for employees who come to work drunk and they’ll adopt that same policy for marijuana.

Come to the restaurant stoned and expect to be out of a job, Smith said.

Employees know the rules, know their work schedules and if they choose to drink or smoke before their shifts, they will be fired, he said. “We’re treating it just like alcohol. Don’t do it before, during or after work on our premises.”

After the November election, employees asked if they could sit out on the patio smoking pot, Smith said. That prompted him to read the entire bill searching out the nuances. “It specifically says you’re not allowed to smoke it in public, so sitting on the patio would be public. And it says every business has the right to police itself and put in its own policies and that’s what we have done and are doing.”

New Belgium Brewing Co. is taking a more laissez faire approach. Policies already state employees cannot be intoxicated on anything at work, but beyond that, the company is relying on workers to make good choices.

“We are a bunch of adults working in an industry that manufactures alcohol,” said NBB spokesman Bryan Simpson. “It’s incumbent on us to be responsible and the level of responsibility here is very high around that.”

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NBB “is not an overly legislative body,” he said. “We don’t write a lot of policies if we can avoid it. We will let state law do what it does and we will work with our own internal regulations around ‘no intoxication’ when here.”

University of Colorado Health, formerly Poudre Valley Health System, has reiterated its zero-tolerance stance for its 16,000 employees, said spokesman Gary Kimsey.

The health system is also bound to federal drug-free workplace laws since it receives federal reimbursements for patient care.

At Fort Collins-based marketing company A-Train, owners Gretchen Gaede and Ryan Keiffer are in the throes of updating their policy manuals to deal with marijuana.

Like CooperSmith’s, A-Train is treating marijuana as it treats alcohol and prohibits being under the influence of anything at work. “It’s not going to happen at work,” Gaede said. But marijuana is not as easy to detect as alcohol and can stay in one’s system for up to 30 days.

“The expectation of our employees is that they come to work ready to work ... we’re still talking about the fact that federally, marijuana is still illegal,” she said. “While it may seem like a free-for-all here, we still have to recognize the way the country sees it is still quite different.”

When medical marijuana was first legalized in Colorado, an A-Train employee had a medical marijuana card that allowed him to legally possess and use pot. “The person didn’t feel they were doing anything wrong because they had the card ... he thought he was bulletproof.” Once Gaede explained the rules, the employee was more than happy to follow them.

In some ways, Gaede sees the new legalization as more black and white than medical marijuana. “You can’t be under the influence at work.” she said. “I don’t want someone who breaks a leg to take 15 pain pills and come to work, either.”

Gannett, the parent company of the Coloradoan, sent a notice to employees reminding them the possession, use, sale or distribution of illegal drugs on company time, on company premises or in company vehicles is prohibited, as is being at work under the influence of alcohol or any controlled substance.